Biden’s 100-day vaccine goal was nearly reached before he arrived

Photographer: Bing Guan / Bloomberg

The US is on the cusp of administering Covid-19 vaccinations at the rate of a million doses per day, suggesting the Biden administration’s goal of 100 million doses in 100 days could be a modest ambition.

In the week that Biden was sworn in as president, an average of nearly 983,000 shots were delivered per day during the seven days ending Friday, according to data from Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker. The last three days have been over a million doses.

Biden’s goal is essentially not to relapse. He made it a theme of his presidential campaign to criticize the way the previous administration handled the pandemic – including the introduction of vaccines that fell far short of then-President Donald Trump’s promises. At the current rate of about 1 million injections per day, it would take nearly 18 months to vaccinate 80% of the US population.

“God willing, we’re not just going to do 100 million, we’re going to do more than that,” Biden said at the White House Friday.

Undermines Biden’s goal of million shots a day

In the week he was sworn in, nearly 983,000 doses were given per day

Source: Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker

Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Thursday that vaccinating 70% to 85% of the country by the end of the summer would allow a return to norm. To do that, 460 million to 560 million doses would have to be administered, as current vaccines require a first injection followed by a booster. That is more than double that of Biden 100 day goal.

Biden “takes into account everything that could go well – as well as what could go wrong – and makes an informed decision about what goal to pursue,” said Vivek Murthy, Biden’s choice for the US Surgeon General. “But make no mistake, his goal is not only to achieve that, but also to exceed it. But we have to pull out all the stops. “

In meeting the goal of 100 million doses on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained the math behind the government’s thinking. She said that under Trump, 17 million doses had been administered in the first 38 days, at an average rate of less than 500,000 per day, and Biden’s team hoped to double that.

Bloomberg’s data shows the rate has risen significantly since the first weeks of the rollout. A more ambitious plan would be to double the current number of vaccinations – not the average rate during the early phase of vaccine distribution. That’s what some Republicans have been asking for.

“America is already on track for 100 million in 100 days,” Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican leader, said on Twitter. “Biden could do 200 million in 100 days. Republicans would support it. Thanks to Trump, he’s already halfway there. ”

60.3 Million Recordings Worldwide: Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker

In the early days of the vaccination campaign, doses were administered in no time. By the time Biden took office, the federal government was making more than 8 million doses per week available through its distribution program, according to allocation figures from the Health and Human Services division. Shots go into the arms almost as quickly.

Those figures include the first and second doses of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccines. and Moderna Inc. In total, the US has made available 65 million doses that can be ordered through the end of January and will ship in the coming weeks. Of those, nearly 40 million have already been shipped, according to the CDC.

The US has spent more than any other country in the world to help accelerate vaccine development and deployment. It secured more than 1 billion doses from six companies before any of the shots was approved. Despite all the criticism aimed at the early awkwardness of the vaccine’s introduction, the US is still a leader in injections administered, ranking fifth per capita.

US ranks fifth in shots per capita

The Trump administration also set ambitious goals, with the goal of having hundreds of millions of doses available by the end of 2020 and following a rapid pace of vaccinations. It reduced those goals after not having as much vaccine available as hoped.

“You don’t achieve a hundred percent of the goals you don’t set,” Alex Azar, Trump’s health secretary, said in an interview last month. He said the government’s revised goals for 2021 were to make sure there are enough vaccines available for every American who wanted one.

The accelerating vaccination campaign is not without its problems. States have said that in the long run, they have little understanding of the offerings they are being offered and that significant delays can occur between when the CDC says doses are sent and when they actually arrive. States like West Virginia and North Dakota are running on thin cushions of the vaccine supply and have used up more than 70% of the shots sent to them.

“There are many problems. We’ll tackle them and hit our bold goal of 100m shots in 100 days, ”Ron Klain, Biden’s Chief of Staff, said on Twitter Friday morning. “It will not be easy, smooth or without setbacks. But we’ll get it done. “

New vaccines are coming

The supply of vaccines and the pace of vaccinations could accelerate rapidly as new injections are released for use. A Johnson & Johnson vaccine has enough data to start analyzing now, and could yield results in a week or two, Fauci said this week. The Food and Drug Administration moved in days to allow vaccine applications based on early results.